Example of bold effect by scraping out on the black-lined paper, and free use of autographic chalk.
This drawing shows, I think, the artistic limitations of this process in the hands of an experienced draughtsman.
The original drawing by Mr. Lindstrom (from his painting in the Royal Academy) was the same size as the reproduction.
Other papers largely used for illustration in the type press have a white grain, a good specimen of which is on page 123; and there are variations of these white-grained papers, of which what is known in France as allongé paper is one of the best for rough sketches in books and newspapers.
The question may arise in many minds, are these contrivances with their mechanical lines for producing effect, worthy of the time and attention which has been bestowed upon them? I think it is very doubtful if much work ought to be produced by means of the black-grained papers; certainly, in the hands of the unskilled, the results would prove disastrous. A painter may use them for sketches, especially for landscape. Mr. Compton (as on p. 116) can express very rapidly and effectively, by scraping out the lights and strengthening the darks, a snowdrift or the surface of a glacier. In the drawing on page 123, Mr. C. J. Watson has shown us how the grained paper can be played with, in artistic hands, to give the effect of a picture.
The difference, artistically speaking, between sketches made on black-grained and white-grained papers seems to me much in favour of the latter.